The Den trail is an adventure without being impossible for the average hiker. It is also a way to experience the Chihuahuan Desert, and to get an idea of the real personality of the desert part of Big Bend National…
Colorado in South Dakota: Spearfish Canyon
Spearfish is located in far western South Dakota. However, few of the people who go to Spearfish travel south to drive through Spearfish Canyon, a truly beautiful spot that really doesn’t resemble most people’s vision of this state. It reminds…
Prettiest Hike in Organ Pipe: Bull Pasture
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument may be known as much for being directly on the Mexican boarder as for the cactus that gives it its name. From almost anywhere in the park, you can look south and see into a…
100-Palm Tree Oasis – The Palm Bowl
In a previous post, I told about the Borrego Palm Canyon Nature Trail in Anza Borrego Desert State Park. However, you really haven’t seen a large oasis in the middle of the desert in this park unless you’ve climbed above…
Hoodoos in a Desert Meadow: Chesler Park
Chesler Park is one of my favorite places in Canyonlands National Park. It’s so pretty and awe-inspiring with red and white sandstone towers and hoodoos rimming a desert meadow filled with desert grass and low scrub. Chesler Park is the…
Other Earthly “Caves” in Cathedral Gorge
Imagine a vista that looks like a cross between Bryce Canyon, The Slots (Anza-Borrego Desert State Park), drip-castles we made out of watery sand at the beach, and something totally other-earthly. Something you’ve seen in a movie about another planet. …
Prettiest Scenic Drive I’ve Found in Utah: The Potash Road
One evening in May, we decided to drive to the end of Rt 270 from Moab, Utah, to find a place to camp. After the Potash plant, the road becomes dirt, but it’s a fairly good road as dirt roads…
An Oasis in the Middle of the Desert – Borrego Palm Canyon
Have you ever wanted to experience an oasis? To come along through the heat of the desert and to suddenly see palm trees ahead of you and experience the cool of sitting there next to a spring of cold water? …
A “Hidden” Desert Meadow: Hidden Valley, Moab
Located just outside of Moab, Utah, it’s surprising that more people don’t know about Hidden Valley. If this scenic desert meadow was inside of one of the national parks in that area—Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park, or even Canyon…
Colorado’s Undiscovered National Park: Black Canyon of the Gunnison
Black Canyon of the Gunnison’s north rim has got to be one of the weirdest national parks I’ve ever visited. Typically, national parks are crowded, have lots of services, have lots to do, and have lots of rules, which are…